Our life
by supersissy
Summary: After living with the Shadows her whole life, Artemis runs away with baby Damian at Talia's request. Who knows how long they can make it...
1. Chapter 1

2 years ago

Somewhere in the Tibet

Artemis watched as Talia placed a soft kiss on the crown of Damian's head. She knew how hard it was for her to let go of both of her "children".

After another moment Talia turned to Artemis, "Remember child, you must be careful, I can only cover for you for so long. Then you and Damian are on your own." She gave Artemis the three month old baby ever so carefully, as not to wake him. After she tucked him in the sling she had around her chest, she covered him with her black cloche. Drawing the hood over her long blonde hair she looked back at the woman who had trained her, the woman she saw as not only as the mother of the baby snuggled up against her chest, but as her own mother. Talia brushed the back of her hand against Artemis's cheek before she pulled her into a loving hug.

"_Both_ of you stay safe." Artemis could hear the tears that would later be shed from their departure.

With a small smile Artemis choked out her own "We will. Talia- just… You be careful too. I…I'll miss you…"

She felt Talia give her one last squeeze before she placed another kiss on the top of her almost daughter. "I'll be fine." She reassured the sixteen year old, "The last place they'll look will be Gotham. Go there, but keep moving. Say he's your baby, the I.D I got you says you're legally emancipated from the foster care system, and I packed enough money to get you a small apartment somewhere. Don't forget to train him… and just… Don't forget all that I've taught you Artemis. Stay under the radar." Talia sighed. If she could she would keep both of them here, with her forever.

However, with her father's plans, she had no choice but to send them both away. He wanted to make Artemis his bride. That was not something Artemis, let alone Talia wanted to happen. Artemis never even wanted to become a master assassin. She was literally born in the Shadows, the offspring of two of the League's best, forced to become something she didn't want to be. She had always been a toy in Talia's father's eyes. But Talia actually cared for Artemis. She trained her and spoke to her of a life away from the Shadows.

Then there was little Damian. The boy both women loved. Her father wanted him to become just as much of a monster as him. Neither even considered this a possibility. So when Talia asked Artemis to leave, and take Damian with her, Artemis had agreed immediately.

That's how they got here. The two most important people in Talia's life were about to disappear. She hopefully wouldn't see them any time soon. No matter how much she wished that wasn't true.


	2. Chapter 2

Now

For the past four months Alice Hatter and her two and her half year old son, Danny, had been living in apartment 3Gon 5380 Bristol St. in the slums of Gotham. The neighbors knew that the eighteen year old, Vietnamese girl was a single mom who worked from their apartment; doing tax returns and other boring thing. She was very beautiful girl; almond shaped eyes, tan skin, and long blonde hair. There was no question why Brad, the cocky gang banger from 4B, was always trying to catch her alone in the elevator. Little Danny was just about the darn cutest little thing Mrs. Dapney ,the 78 year old that lived in 3H, had ever seen. With his black hair and pail skin, the neighbors had to assume he took after his father. They wouldn't know. Alice refused to say a word about the man. (Once, when Brad had asked is the baby daddy was still in the picture, he could have almost swore he heard Alice growl.) However you could see that he must have at least gotten his mother's eyes. They were a soft blue/gray, similar to his mother's own gray eyes. The two tried to spend as little time as possible in the city. Always off hiking or camping in the woods.

They had no reason to think that Alice's real name was Artemis; a.k.a. Tigress, the feared master assassin, which had mysteriously dropped off of the superhero's map two years ago. No reason to believe that Danny was Talia al' Ghul's son, whose real name was Damian. They didn't know he was the heir to the infamous League of Shadows. None of them thought that when they went to the woods Alice; or Artemis was truly training Damian to defend himself against the people who had themselves, trained her. The assassins who were, no doubt, still looking for them. To the people who lived at 5380 Bristol St. in the slums of Gotham, they were just Alice and Danny.


	3. Chapter 3

**I just want to thank all of you for reading and reviewing my story. I am so happy you enjoy is to much! Here is a super long chapter that I wrote, please tell me what you think. I will just warn you know, I'm not the best at fight scence. I hope you enjoy the chapter, this is where my story starts to pick up. **

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Gotham woods

3:00 p.m.

Artemis had to admit, for a two year old, Damian had damn good aim. Granted she had been teaching the little guy how to throw knives for over a year, but man, was he getting good at it.

"Geez Damian! You get any better and you'll be able to out-throw me one of these days!" she teased the little boy. He grinned up at her. She wasn't really his mother, but the love she felt for the munchkin was exactly the same as his real mother felt for him.

She stepped closer and scooped him up into her arm, make him giggle uncontrollably. "Mamma," he said after he had stifled the last of his giggles, "Do you think that one day I could be a hero? Like Batman or Green Arrow?"

Artemis wasn't really sure how to answer that. She had told Damian the Shadows. He knew that Artemis was a trained killer, he knew that his mother was the daughter of one of the most infamous men that had ever lived (at least in Artemis' opinion). Even knowing all of this though, Damian hoped to one day become a hero, and that was something beautiful. So she smiled at the boy, now resting on her hip, and said, "I _**know**_ that if you want to be a super hero," she tapped him on the nose, "You will be the best. Better than Batman and Green Arrow combined." She knew that this was the right answer when he squirmed out of her arms and ran over to the log she had put her bow on.

"Here Ma," he placed it in her hand, "we can be super hero's together!"

Artemis didn't answer right away. Instead she just brought her bow string back to her cheek and let the arrow she had taken from her quiver fly. It hit dead center of the ring that she had set up about a hundred and fifty feet away. "Okay baby. One of these days, we'll be the best superhero's the world has ever seen. Now come on! We need to hike all the way back to the bus station before it gets dark!"

Mt. Justice, Happy Harbor

4:00 p.m.

"Team," Batman greeted after Aqualad(Kaldur), Miss. Martian (Megan/M'gann), Superboy (Conner), Robin(Richard/Dick), Kid Flash (Wally), Rocket (Raquel), and Zatanna (Zatanna) filed into the briefing room, "I need you report to Gotham, and scout out this location. There has been a lot of suspicious activity around this area. There have been reports of what appears to be some of Bane's men around there. We need to know why they're in this are," he typed something into the computer and brought up a picture of the Gotham slums. Zooming in on the warehouse districts, a 3-D picture popped up in front of them and spun around for all to see. "I need you to investigate this _covertly_. This is a special operations team, I don't want you accidently explode something, or-"

"Hey that was an accident!" Kid Flash yelled after he swallowed the last bite of his sandwich, "The sun was in my eyes and…" He slowly faded out under the intensity of Batman's glare.

"As I was saying the," Batman continued harshly, "I expect this to go off without as much as a hitch. Drop is in eight o'clock exactly. Understood?"

There was a chorus of "Yes", "Yeah", and one "Sey" courtesy of Zatanna, that came before batman disappeared with the flick of a cape, and the buzz of a zeta beam.

It was quite for a moment before Robin spoke, "Wally…you know that mission happened in the middle of the night…Right?"

After a long pause Wally sighed, "Yeah. I know." before he sped out of the room to change into his costume. Leaving everyone and in the room to look at each other in amused wonder.

Gotham Bus Station

8:00 p.m.

Artemis had the large bag containing her collapsible bow, all her arrows, Damian's knives, and all the rest of their training gear close to her left side. On her right was the owner of the knives tucked under her arm fast asleep. Artemis could feel the two men sitting 3 rows behind her and Damian, glaring holes in the back of her head. She knew that at the next stop she would have to lose the morons, or be forced to kick the two ass-holes teeth in. She had her collapsible crossbow hidden in her jacket and her hunting knife tucked into her boot. If they wanted to play, then fine she'd play, but after training with Damian all day, she was pretty dang tired. She would rather not have to kick in some faces before bed.

Ten minutes later, after she found herself in an abandoned warehouse, Artemis quickly realized her mistake. The two guys on the bus hadn't been your average, run of mill scum-bags. They had been two of Bane's scum-bags. Who followed her into a warehouse at least half a dozen more scum-bags were waiting. Sitting on crates patiently waiting for their turn to try and beat the shit out of a blond Vietnamese girl carrying a baby.

Being an ex-assassin, Artemis knew what was going on. The Shadows had probably hired Bane's men to find her and Damian. She had avoided the Shadows for so long because she knew how they worked. It was just like them to hire someone else more unfamiliar to her to do the job for them. Bane's boys were more brute and aggressive, always looking forward to the fight hoping to spill as much blood and break as many bones as possible. They knew she was Artemis and were clearly ready for a fight.

"Mẹ?" He asked in Vietnamese; one of the languages Artemis was teaching him, "Mẹ, những gì đang xảy ra?" (Mom? Mom what's going on?)

"Shh," She soothed, "Nếu tôi nói với bạn đi, đi. Được chưa?" (When I tell you to go, go.)

Looking around again Damian eyed each and every man. He remembered Artemis telling him to always know what you're up against. He saw that every man, he thought there were six-but he wasn't that good at counting yet, had at the very least a switch-blade. Damian knew that Artemis could probably beat them, but he had a feeling that there were more. This would be the first time that they were attacked by more than three. Artemis could easily fight her way out of those brawls, and that was weaponless. In the bag, lay their knives and arrows, if they got those everything would be alright. He reluctantly nodded his head when he saw that this was what his Mama wanted him to do.

As she slowly set him down on the ground she slid her hunting knife out of her boot, and into his much smaller hand. She quickly me his eyes and darted them over to some larger crates. He could hide there. If, God forbid, one the men found him; she hoped he would be able to use the knife like he does during their training.

"Hide over there." She whispered in his ear before she pushed him behind her.

"Come on pretty lady," the biggest one spoke with a deep smokers voice, "Just come with us and we won't have to hurt you…or that little boy." He eyed Damian with a smile.

An angry growl rose from Artemis' throat. "You'll have kill me before you take either of us back to the Shadows." She told the ugly bastard.

"Oh how I love a challenge!" he yelled as he lunged at her.

As he came towards her Damian bolted unnoticed over to the crates Artemis had told him to hide in earlier. The man drew back his fist trying to punch Artemis in her face. But, before he could make contact she ducked under his arm and punched him in his own face. Make the loud crack of his nose breaking echo throw-out the warehouse. Blood gushed out of his nose as he stumbled backwards.

"Oy!" yelled a red-headed goon to the right of her, "She broke Harry's nose!" 'Harry' gingerly touched his now tilted nose and winced.

"I'm sorry, Harry. Does it hurt?" She asked putting as much sincerity as she could into her words.

The rest of Harry's face that wasn't covered in blood, changed to a deep tomato red. "I'll show you hurt, you little Slut!" He roared. He must have been expecting one of the other slime balls to make the next move, because when no one moved the vein on his forehead popped out as he boomed, "Don't just stand there ya' pricks! Get her!" With snapping everyone out of their motionless trance the goons all rushed her. Artemis used a combination of punches and kicks to keep them as far away from her as possible. She swiped one man's legs out from under him and pulled out her crossbow. She shot her first arrow at the red-headed man who was trying to grab her from behind. Sinking it deep into his meaty bicep, and then punching him in the temple; Rendering him unconscious. Artemis didn't know why she wasn't going for the kill shots. Maybe it was because she hadn't killed in two years, and she was out of practice; possibly she was proving a point to herself that she didn't have to use the methods the Shadows taught her to win a fight; or maybe it was because she didn't want Damian to see her murder someone. She was pretty sure it was the last one.

She quickly let two more arrows fly, landing one in a man's thigh, and another in a different man's stomach. She leapt up to kick a tall dark haired man in the face when another one caught her by the waist, yanking her down as another on hit her in the mouth. She grunted as the taste of blood overwhelmed her senses. Swiftly kicking the man coming at her from the side in the face, Knocking him out too.

"Enough!" Harry yelled as he grabbed her by her hair and lifted her to her feet. Hissing in pain she grabbed onto forearm, digging her nails into his skin. Two more men came from behind and pulled her arms firmly behind her back. "You and that boy are going to come with us. You will not fight us; you will not try to run from us. Do you understand?" He growled pulling her hair just a little more.

Artemis looked up at Harry's face, and couldn't help but to smile, "Harry, you're still bleeding." She pointed out. Artemis couldn't help the small smirk that came to her lips as his eyes clouded with anger.

Harry pulled his hand up and back-handed her across the face. "Did that hurt?" he asked her with a satisfied smile.

Spitting out the blood that had collected in her mouth Artemis smiled at Harry again, "Nope. It actually felt pretty good." She really liked pushing Harry's buttons.

"AHHHHH!" Harry screamed in her face, "You will **NOT** talk to me that way!" He pulled out his switch-blade knife spinning it around dangerously. With the flick of his wrist he sunk it into Artemis's side, causing her to breath in a sharp gasp. "Did _that_ feel good?" He asked her before he yanked the knife out. Artemis clenched her eyes shut. She knew that she was bleeding a lot from that wound already. She would probably pass out within the next fifteen minutes. She tilted her head so that when she opened her eyes she wouldn't be looking at the neanderthal when she opened her eyes, she refused to let him see the pain that he had caused in them.

When she opened them she saw the strangest thing. It appeared to be a long stream of water coming from a stick that was held by a man with webbed hands and feet. She knew she was losing a lot of blood, but Artemis didn't think she was losing enough to hallucinate…at least not yet.

Gotham Warehouse

8:15 p.m.

As soon as the team landed they had split up. Kid Flash and Rocket had gone to scout out the warehouse on the East side; Robin and Miss Martian had gone to the one on the South; Zatanna and Superboy had gone a warehouse on the North side; while Aqualad had gone solo to the warehouse to the West. He really didn't think they would find anything big; they were only doing a little recon. Just because they weren't the best at covert didn't mean they hadn't succeeded in it before. So after having M'gann mind link them, they all went off in their different directions.

Imagine Kaldur's surprise when he not only finds the group of men they were sent to spy on, but all of those men holding onto a young woman as what looked to be their leader stabbed a knife deep into her side.

Perched on top of a pile of crates Aqualad contacted the rest of his teammates through the mind link. 'Report to my building immediately. I have found Bane's men as well as what looks to be a civilian hostage.'

'We're on our way Kaldur!' M'gann's voice rang out in his thoughts. Aqualad refused to stand by and let this girl get hurt any further. With his team on their way he felt free to take action. Leaping off the crates he used his water-bearers to knock the man who had stabbed the girl away. He was bleeding profusely from his crooked nose. Surprised by Aqualad's sudden appearance the men holding the girl let go and she fell to the floor. He dodged a punch coming from another goon, and then he created a water whip to push this man back and keep the rest of the men away from the injured girl. One man managed to get passed him and was just about to slice open Kaldur's bicep when a batarang flew from the rafters and knocked it out of the fiend's hand. A menacing and deep laugh rang through the warehouse.

"Shit man!" A tall dark haired goon yelled frantically, "Those Justice Kids are here! We gotta go!" Several other men nodded their heads in agreement, but they were too late. By this time the rest of the team had arrived and were already rounding up the remaining men.

Miss. Martian floated over to the mystery girl with a softly smile. "Hello. My name is Miss. Martian. Are you alright?" she asked her.

For a moment Artemis just looked at the Miss. Martian. Then she stated, very simply, "You are green and floating," In an incredibly flat voice with no emotion whatsoever. Before M'gann could say anything else the girl's eyes grew wide and she hurriedly pushed herself up onto her elbows.

"Damian!" she called her voice filled with worry, "Damian, where are you baby!?"

She began to try and sit up, only to be pushed back down by Miss. Martian. "You've already lost so much blood. I don't want you to pass out or worse… Who's Damian? Who are you?"

Artemis ignored Miss. Martian as Damian ran out from behind the crates and into her waiting, blood covered arms. "Mamma, I was so scared!" The little boy said in a shaky voice, tears about to spill out of his eyes.

"I don't know about you guys," Wally spoke as everyone openly stared at the unexpected mother and son embracing, "But I defiantly didn't see that coming. I mean we come here to covertly collect information, and we find a shit- I mean whole bunch," he corrects himself after a hard elbow in the ribs (thank you Rocket), "Of Bane's cronies fighting some hot chick. Then we save her, and outcomes, wait for it, her son! Yep didn't see this coming. Not. At. All."

"Not that I wouldn't love to sit here in a pool of my own blood," Artemis looked over at Damian when she felt him squeeze her tighter, "And tell you all my life's story, no really sounds like a blast, but I kind of need some medical attention. Hope you don't mind." When Zatanna stepped over towards her Damian leapt up and held the knife Artemis gave him in a defensive manner. Artemis felt a burst of pride in her heart at his actions.

"Baby it's okay." She murmured to him as she grabbed his wrist and eased the knife out of his surprisingly strong grip. "They're going to help us." She could see dots beginning to form in the corners of her vision, "They're going to help us stay hidden." They would need help for sure now. In the condition she was in Artemis knew that she wouldn't be able to protect Damian, let alone herself until she had healed. With the Shadows knowing their location, they definitely need any help they could get. She would need the help of the people she had once fought against to keep her baby boy safe. Damn.

Artemis eased herself back on the ground and closed her eyes. As she drifted out of consciousness she felt Damian grab her hand and a girl say a strange jumble of words that made absolutely no sense.

Then she heard the girl proclaim, "She'll still pass out, but she won't bleed to death now…" making little Damian clench her hand tighter.

"What did she mean by 'They're going to help us stay hidden'?" questioned a more manly voice. No one answered for a moment.

Then she heard Kid Flash speak again, "I don't know." He said, " But at least we didn't blow anything up."

Then everything went black as Artemis passed out.

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**Thanks again for reading. Please review and tell me what you thought and give me any advice. I havn't picked pairings yet, ot even decided if there will be any pairings... Anyhow ya... Heh Thanks.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I am so sorry it took so long to get this up. With school, sports, clubs, family, and everything else its been a little hectic. Please forgive me and keep reviewing. This story will keep going until I stop I guess...**

**Hehe I am sorry I made you wait so long for this chapter, but you flatter me with your rereading it like six times!**

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Mount Justice

9:00 a.m.

Artemis awoke suddenly, sitting up in her bed with a gasp. She had absolutely no idea where she was or how she got there. She was sitting on a white hospital bed in a pale blue room with a slit in the far left corner that she assumed was the door that would lead her out. Thinking back, the last thing Artemis could remember was…OH. The super heroes had saved her and Damian.

DAMIAN! Artemis leapt out of the bed and immediately realized what a bad decision that was when she fell onto the floor. Simultaneously scraping her new wound on the edge of the bed, making her hiss in distaste. Taking it slower this time, she used the bed to support her as she stood back up. Even with the injury and excessive blood loss, she was not going to stay here-where ever here was-and let a bunch of heroes interrogate Damian! She must have lost a freaking ton of blood if she ever even considered their help as an option!

Slowly but surely Artemis made her way towards the sliding door. After the door slid open she took small unsure steps into what appeared to be a hallway made of rock. Carefully, she made sure that she didn't make a sound as she crept over the cold cement floor. Following the curves of the long hallway praying it would lead her closer to Damian.

"I'm so glad you're finally up!" Artemis stiffened as someone whispered from behind her.

She spun around to see none other than Robin staring down from at least half a foot above her head, his raven hair falling messily over the top of his domino mask. Her mind drifts for a moment, as she thought about how handsome he looks, and then she saw the much smaller body in his arms; and realizes why he was whispering.

Without thinking she steps forward and touches Damian's head. He slept soundly in Robins arms, mouth hung open, breathing softly. Artemis knew he only slept this well when he had stayed up far beyond what's good for the average two year old.

"I was just going to lay him down in my room to sleep." Robin whispers to her. "You can come with, if you want." The last part was said rather cautiously. Artemis figured she was supposed to be locked up in the infirmary. She was thankful Robin was letting her be with Damian; she was planning on leaving soon, so she would need to know where to find him.

After following Robin down a maze of twists and turns Artemis found herself in a large room. It had a king sized bed, a desk full of books and papers, as well as the nicest computer Artemis had ever seen in her life. If she had a computer like this she could hack just about anything in the world; and never get caught doing it. Did Artemis really feel a little bit of jealousy over how unfair it was that he had that?

Artemis turned away from the beautiful piece of technology when she heard sheets rustling from the bed. She walked over to the curled body lying under the covers and kissed Damian's soft black hair, and stroked his cheek once before following Robin back out of the room.

Once she had closed the door behind her Robin spoke to her in a normal voice, "I bet you're starving. Tell you what, I'll show you to the showers so you can freshen up and…whatever then we can have breakfast. The rest of the team should be back by then." His voice was deeper than she had expected.

Artemis nodded her head, "Sounds good to me. Lead the way." She figured her best option was to stick around till no one was watching, then grab Damian and book it.

The bird led her further down the hall into what seemed to be the heart of the mountain. She caught glimpses of a massive training area full of all the latest gizmos and gadgets. This place had everything! She could train to her hearts content if she had a set up as nice as this! She really wanted to try it out, but not as much as she wanted to leave, she even had a pretty good idea of how to.

She would go in the locker room for a few minutes then sneak out, grab Damian and get out of here unnoticed. She had thought she saw some zeta tubes over by the training room, she was pretty sure she remembered how to hack them. (Talia had told her how to hack them when she first left, but told her not to use it unless it was absolutely necessary. Batman would defiantly know if she used one of his toys.) Maybe she could forget that she had ever had a run in with the hero's. Even if some help would be nice… No. She could handle this. She'd been through hell and back like seven times, hiding from the Shadows without any help from the damn super heroes was something she could handle.

Artemis was so lost in thought, she almost ran right into Robin when he stopped in front of the women's locker room. "Here you go." He said politely, if a little awkwardly, "I think Miss. Martian put some clothes in there for you earlier. You know, so you don't have to go around wearing a hospital gown."

Looking down Artemis took in the knee length gown for the first time. She had been running around in nothing but a thin layer of white cotton. Artemis couldn't help the little bit of heat that spread to her cheeks as she thought about that. Thank goodness the Martian thought to leave her some clothes. Nothing screamed mug me like a girl running around the slums of Gotham in a hospital gown with a tired eye baby on her hip.

Making her eyes wrinkle in the corners as she put on a fake smile, like she thought it was funny, (wrinkling your eyes made it made smiles look more believable) Artemis looked up at Robin' "Thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate this. You heroes are just so amazing. What would the world do without you?" So maybe it was a little overkill, she could tell by the way Robin's cheeks turned a pale rosy color that he bought it anyways; and that was all that mattered.

"Oh…Um…" he stammered. Being honest with herself Artemis had to admit it was pretty cute how flustered she was makeing him, "It…uh… It's what we all love doing…uh…"

Holding in the laughter that bubbled in her chest Artemis looked into the eye wholes of his mask, "Well it means a lot." She said it in the sweetest most sincere voice she could muster before she rose onto her tippy toes and pecked him on the cheek, only catching a glimpse of his shocked expression before she slipped through the locker room door.

True to his word, there was a pair of blue jeans, a red t-shirt, the needed undergarments, socks, shoes, and a towel waiting for her on a bench by the showers. Scanning the room Artemis caught sight of herself in the mirror. She was far paler than she was used to. Her long blond hair, which she usually kept in a neat ponytail, was mused and random pieces hung in her face. Maybe she could take a quick shower before she ditched the place.

Artemis quickly stripped herself of the gown and turned on the water. She adjusted the temperature as she ripped the ponytail out and ran her fingers through her hair to get rid of the worst tangles. Finding the small bottle of shampoo and soap Artemis quickly washed herself being cautious of her stiches. A few minutes later she was clean and dressed and puting her hair back into a ponytail. She still looked ragged, but she didn't look as bad as she had five minutes ago. Now she had to find Damian and get back to Gotham. She needed to grab their fake I.D's, a few clothes, and some money before they moved. She was thinking about going to New Mexico for a while.

She stuck her head out of the door to find the hall empty. 'Well,' she thought, 'here goes nothing.'

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**This chapter is just setting up the action that's gonna happen at the Cave. (with a little dash of traught for good measure) It will be more exciting in the next chapter I promise. Keep the reviews coming and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm sorry it took so long. I hope you all enjoy!**

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Mount Justice

10:00 a.m.

She made it to Damian's room and back to the zeta tubes without incident. Damian stood to her right, practically asleep on his feet, while Artemis mentally cursed the machine that she couldn't figure out how to re-wire. She could have sworn that Talia had said to combine the blue wire with the yellow one. The only problem was that there was no damn blue wire. Or any color of wire other than black for that matter!

Suddenly the machine started up. She felt victorious for a moment; that is until a robotic woman's voice announced "Superboy BO4" "Miss Martian BO5".

Artemis practically threw herself away from the machine, leaving a very visible tangle of wires hanging out of its back.

"Conner, that is -," the girl Artemis could have sworn was green the last time she saw her, that was now a nice peach color, cut herself off. The smile she had had been wearing for "Conner" grew a little, and then fell a bit when she saw the bunch of wires. Her eyes narrowed a little in confusion and suspicion, "Well it's great to see you up and…about…" her eyes flashed back to the wires for a second, before they locked with Artemis'.

"Mama," Damian whisper-shouts to Artemis as he walks to her feet with a yawn, "That's Superboy and Miss Martian; they went to get me some clean close while you were asleep." He looks down at his rather filthy jeans and t-shirt.

"How nice of them." Artemis answers, not turning away from the freckly red head and grumpy looking boy as she picks Damian up.

There was a long silence until the tall buff boy reached out and awkwardly handed Artemis the bag. "Here," he grumbled, "these are for him."

Artemis took the bag, grateful that she wasn't going to have to explain what she was doing with the zeta tubes. "Thanks." She said flatly, before she began her walk back to the locker rooms. It was just her luck that her plans of escape would be shot.

"Ma," Damian claimed her attention as he stepped into his blue jeans, "I'm hungry." Artemis had been so distracted with her mind rants that she hadn't even realized that her own stomach was twisting with hunger.

"Alright babe, let's go see if we can find the kitchen. Okay?" She asked him, tugging down his Superman shirt. He gave her his brightest smile and Artemis could swear her heart melted.

Damian aimlessly tugged her through the halls. She supposed that eventually they would run into someone.

That someone ended up being an Italian magician. "Hello there!" the black haired beauty greeted kindly a warm smile on her lips, "Robin said that breakfast was just about ready." She turned around and started walking down one of the halls. Not knowing what else to do Artemis followed her.

"I hope you like waffles. It's one of the few things usually end up edible." She laughed a little to herself, like edible food was some inside joke here. She glanced at Artemis for a second once she realized she wouldn't get it, but didn't offer any explanation.

"There Damian's favorite." Artemis said as she looked down at Damian, when they walked into a large kitchen/living room area. All of the teen heroes were there: Robin and Miss Martian were over by the counter making an unbelievable amount of waffles. While Kid Flash sat at the table with Superboy and Aqualad eating a stack about half as high as the stack that Robin and Miss Martian were making. Conner and Rocket were at the conjoined counter talking to the cooks about something Artemis couldn't quite make out.

All of the talk died down once Artemis and Damian entered. The only sound was the sizzling of the batter in the waffle iron.

Artemis hadn't felt this intimidated since her induction into the Shadows. She had been put into an arena, with all of the other Shadows above her; including her biological mother, father, and sister, watching, waiting for the blood to be spilled. Her induction had been special; she had been granted the gift of fifteen years of training and fifteen amster instructors. This meant she had to kill one man who did wrong in the eyes of each instructor, and then she had to kill a man to honor Ra's and a man to honor Talia. Each man had slowly gotten more large and brute and intimidating. She had been about to drop with exhaustion once she had slaughtered the behemoth in honor of Talia. She was given the symbolical tattoo that meant she was officially a Shadow and her life now belonged to them. She probably would have died of blood loss had Talia not called her to her chambers –for congratulations of course – and helped stich her back up.

Granted she wasn't planning to be killing any of these heroes- well at least not right now- but they could be her undoing. She had no idea if they knew anything about her past, or if they only knew about Alice and Danny.

They were all just staring at her until Aqualad peacefully walked over to her, "I am Aqualad." She found it funny that he didn't know that she already knew who all of them were. Talia had trusted her with her child; of course Artemis knew who her lover was, as well as all his friends, and their apprentices. "Please, would you join us for breakfast?"

Artemis nodded her head in agreement and led Damian over to the Martian who gave him a plate with a waffle topped with butter and syrup, while Artemis took an identical plate from Robin, who also gave her an encouraging smile.

They sat at the table with the rest of the group and began eating. Staring at his waffle for a moment Damian looked up at Artemis then back at his waffle and back up at her before he finally sighed, "Mama, will you cut up my waffle?"

"Of course Danny." She smiled as she cut his food, before she realized her mistake. She had called him Damian the other night. Now she called him Danny. What if one of the heroes called her out?

"Wait a second," of course it would be Kid Flash, "I thought his name was Damian. Now you're calling him Danny?" he pointed at her with his fork.

Artemis continued to cut up the waffle for a minute searching for an excuse. She sure as hell wasn't going to tell them everything; she had to think of something quick.

"Danny was his father's name." She made herself look somber but didn't stop cutting the food. She looked over at Damian and gave a pitiful shake of her head.

Kid Clueless didn't seem to get the fact that she was using the past tense, the idiot, "Doesn't it get confusing when they're in the same room?" All of the other heroes who had gotten what she was saying looked at him with shock. They couldn't believe he had just asked that.

Artemis was a little pissed herself. Was he that dense? "He. Died." She punctuated each word harshly and gave him the coldest glare she could. It was a glare so menacing, that almost surpassed the infamous bat-glare.

His mouth gaped half open as he tried to find a way out of the terrifying girl's focus.

"So if this is Damian," Aqualad broke the tense silence, as he simultaneously saved Kid Flash, "then what do we call you?"

Artemis looked him in the eyes for a moment before she looked back down at her own waffle. "I'm Alice." She might as well see how much longer she could stay in Wonderland, maybe she could have some fun.

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**Please tell me what you thought and give me any suggestions you have. Hope you liked it! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the wait! I hope you like it. I'm hoping to get the next chapter up sooner. I know how eager some of you are to have the league introduced into the story.**

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Mount Justice

12:00

They let Artemis put Damian down for a nap before sitting her down in the living room and beginning the interrogation.

"Don't take any offence," she started awkwardly, "but, shouldn't one of the Justice League members be asking me the questions?"

She looked at all of the seven heroes waiting for any one of them to answer her question. She remembered when Hook had told her about when he was captured by the League. Describing it as "One of the most boring things he had ever been put threw in his entire life." He said he gave Ol' Batty information just to kill time until his escape. She had a feeling it had been a little more fear than boredom that had caused him to talk…

"We take no offence." Aqualad was the one to answer her, "Over the years we have come to agreements with the League. One of them is that we have the right to speak to people in your situation first. Later Batman or Black Canary may come to ask you a few more questions, but for now, it is just us." He gave her a gentle smile.

Artemis wasn't even sure what her situation was.

"Our first question for you is about how you got in the predicament I found you in last night?" Aqualad hadn't really formed it as a question, making it seem like no big deal, like every day girls were ganged up on in dark warehouses. Then again, for all Artemis knew that was how it went. She wasn't sure what direction she was going to take this. She could tell them something about her dead boyfriend again, or feign ignorance. Either way was a lie and bound to fail her in the end.

She looked down at her hands then up at Rocket. "I was just going home; when I got off the bus I was being followed. I guess they led me there to try and mug me." She had looked at Rocket the entire time never breaking eye contact. She was a little proud.

There that was the closest to the truth she could get without giving much away. Artemis remembered being back at the Shadows, 'the best lie contains the most truth'; they had drilled it into the young assassins' heads. It never helped that Artemis hadn't been the best at telling lies. She would always forget minor details that would give her away.

"Where were you heading home from?" he paused for a moment, "If I might ask." He added as an afterthought. The way all of them looked at her with a slight bit more interest really made her uncomfortable. It was almost like they knew something that she might be forgetting. Just like back in the Shadows. She had to get this right! Maybe if she didn't put much detail into it…

"We were exploring in the woods." Her voice sounded much more confident than she felt. There was a long pause as everyone contemplated her answer, all of the young heroes looking at each other with slight disappointment.

That's when Artemis realized her flaw. They found her with a rather large duffle bag full of weapons and gear that they knew was used in combat and weapon training. Plus they saw all of the arrows she had shot the goons, and it really didn't help matters that Damian had run out of hiding wielding a freaking hunting knife. They had to be suspicious! Then she had gotten caught trying to escape. Damn, had she screwed this up. Even Kid Dull could probably see through her story.

She watched as the group made wild gestures with their hands and shot glances around randomly. Artemis could only guess they were discussing her recent revelation in their minds. (It was rumored that Martians had that power.)

Suddenly Robin sighed, stood up, and looked at her with a slight smile. "I'm gonna go look something up. Be right back."

She nodded her head once before he was gone without so much as the tap of a shoe.

"Alice," it was Miss Martian talking to her now, "Please understand that we are here to help you and Danny. We need to know the truth before-" she cut herself off before she finished. The girl's eyes grew a little in surprise as all of the other heroes looked at Artemis.

"What's your real name!?" Kid Flash practically shouted at her as he rose to his feet.

Artemis stood up as well. She knew she couldn't leave, but maybe she would rather go down fighting if she had to. Which she didn't; what she wanted was to take Damian and get out of this damn cave! But if she had to choose she would rather have him with these guys then the Shadows. She would rather have him anywhere than with Ra's.

Kid Flash looked at Zatanna like she had said something, drawing Artemis away from his attention.

"Tigress?" Superboy said her old name almost as a question. Looking at her then at Kaldur.

Yep. Artemis was undoubtedly, unquestionably screwed. There was no question about it. Soon Batman would come and squeeze every last secret out of her, then she would be hauled off to Belle Reve.

Artemis tensed when the Martian looked at her again. "Is that why you quite the life?"

Artemis was lost. Miss Martian was implying something but she really wasn't sure what it was because whatever conversations they were having seemed to be inside their heads. So Miss Martian really needed to elaborate cause Artemis wasn't involved.

"Hello Megan!" the Martian said as she face-palmed herself, "Did you quite being an assassin slash thief because you wanted a better life for your son?" Her green face was full of happiness at the thought of Artemis doing something so motherly and noble.

Despite being worried that Miss Martian was reading her mind, Artemis nodded her head. The Martians smile grew a little before she turned away from Artemis again; continuing with the mind conversation.

Still waiting for an attack; Artemis was slightly concerned that none of them were paying her much mind. No pun intended.

Kid Flash was the only one who was even tossing her more than one occasional glance. The rest were practically oblivious.

Artemis let her arms fall and straightened from her defensive stance. She cleared her throat, "Um, I'm really confused." She spoke after she had all of their attention. Glancing at Robin as he silently strolled back into the room, "You find out I'm an ex-master assassin and none of you are concerned?"

Kaldur looked at the rest of his team before he looked back at Artemis, "My apologies Tigr-Alice-Artemis," he finally settled on a name, "But we must call in the league for your particular case."

Well damn.

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**So I'm not sure if later on I want the Shadows to capture Damian, so Artemis goes after him and the team follows; or if they should take her in another way I've been thinking about and they go after her then... Please feel free to comment on these or give me your own ideas! I love to hear your opinions! **

**Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I am so sorry for the wait. Life has been busy. This chapter kinda shows you a little bit more about Artemis and what her life was like with the Shadows. Kinda her thoughts on why she left. I hope you like it!**

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Mount Justice

4:00

Artemis didn't have to wait long for Black Canary to come into the room. The woman wore a kind smile, her eyes showing neither suspicion nor mistrust. She sat in the large pea-soup green chair across from the identical chair Artemis sat in with grace and dignity.

Artemis was still uncertain of all that was going on around her at the moment. She wasn't sure whether she was being held hostage by the Justice League, or she was seeking refuge which was being provided by the Justice League.

Black Canary shifted forward in her seat, resting her elbows on her thighs as she observed Artemis. She looked as if she was trying to piece together a puzzle that she wasn't sure was all there. Then again, that was why Black Canary was there, to get the rest of the pieces so that the heroes could see what her puzzle looked like as a whole.

"How did a girl that was raised by the League of Shadows end up in Gotham after disappearing for a little over two years?" Canary asked suddenly still watching Artemis who seemed very interested in the stitching of her shirt.

It was a fair question, Artemis couldn't argue with that. The answer was simple, "She used what they taught her to get away." She didn't look at Canary when she answered.

The Shadows had taught her many things. She knew how to kill a man 32 different ways using nothing but her bare hands; she knew how to seduce a man into giving her practically anything that she wanted, freedom, information, you name it, most men would do anything if a woman knew what he wanted. She could name the ingredients of just about any poison ever created, as well as the antidote. They had planned for her to be the best they had ever created. From birth she was taught the best ways to be a horrible person.

Yet she had left it all behind because a woman she had seen as an unspoken mother had asked her to save her child from the life that Artemis had been born into. It was a decision that she would never regret making.

Something resembling a smile curved at Black Canary's lips. "How did she end up with a little boy named Damian?"

"She had to keep him safe." Artemis responded.

Black Canary was silent for a moment, "What would have happened to him had you stayed?" her voice was laced with curiosity and maybe a hint of concern.

Artemis stared at the hem of her shirt for several more minutes before she looked Black Canary in the eyes, "He would have become just like me; and he deserved so much better than that. I made the choice to give it to him the life he needed… the life I wish someone had given me." The last part had been barley more than a whisper as she looked back down at her lap. Her answer had been nothing but the truth.

After another long pause the woman in fish net leggings got out of her chair and headed to the door. Artemis watched as she began to turn the handle then turned back around, "I believe that you were raised to be one of the greatest villains to live Artemis." She took a breath, "But I also see the light of justice in your eyes. You were born into that life; but you were meant for another." Then Black Canary opened the door and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Artemis was not sure how to feel about what Canary had said. No one had ever told her that she was meant for another life. Not even Talia.

Talia had known that raising a child to be an assassin was wrong, but she had never wished Artemis hadn't been put in her care. She was happy to have the young girls company, even if her father had less innocent plans for her. When Artemis was a little girl Talia would call her into her chambers and brush her hair. Telling her stories of the things she had done in the past. Artemis was her most trusted confidante; she told her all her secrets while she sewed up her most recent wound. Talking in hushed whispers about a man who dressed as a bat, who Talia swore was her one and only.

Artemis knew that Talia loved Damian more than she had loved Artemis, he was the main reason she had sent them away. Artemis didn't hold that against her, she loved him more than she loved herself too. They had both known that he was meant for more than being the right hand man to a maniac bent on world destruction.

As ashamed as she was to even think it, Artemis had reasons for leaving that had nothing to do with a raven haired boy who she loved more than anything.

She didn't want to be the wife of Ra's al' Ghul. She didn't want to be the toy who he could call on when he wanted something she was horrified to think she would have had to provide. She knew he wanted, and still did want, her to bare him more children to help him rule what remained of the world if his plans succeeded. She didn't want to watch her children turn out like him.

She didn't want to watch as the world burned. Fanning flames that she helped set with every man, woman, and child she murdered in the name of the League of Shadows. It was a life that she was raised to believe that she would have; a life that she didn't want to live.

So given the chance she escaped with Damian. When he had been born she had seen a life for him outside of the Shadows. A life that didn't revolve around pleasing Ra's by killing or letting him stroke your cheek as he congratulated you on your first successful assassination, like hers had. She wanted to give him the life that no one gave her.

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**Please tell me what you thought! Again sorry for the wait, I'll try to get better about that...**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the wait, this chapter eluded me. But I have overcome the writers block! ...I win... haha so, I hope you guys like it, if ya do please tell me, if not just the same!**

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Mt. Justice

11:00 a.m.

The big seven stood in front of Artemis, just about every hero she had ever hears of was in front of her. She knew what this was about, but it didn't make her any less nervous.

Black Canary had come back and spoke to Artemis not long after she left. She had said that some of the heroes wanted to throw her in jail; but they had come up with an alternative. She could join the team and help them, under close motorization, of course. (Apparently there were some ups to having an ex criminal on your side. Who knew?) After some thought Artemis had chosen to work with the sidekicks, at least that way she got to have Damian with her. Plus if she went to jail the Shadows could easily take her. There was no way in hell she would jump right into that boat.

For three days she was kept in a room Black Canary coming back three times a day with food and news. She told her that Damian was being watched over by "The Team". She guessed that was alright for now.

Now here she was, staring down the biggest and best names in the business. Most of the faces were emotionless, but a few, like Black Canary, would flash an encouraging smile. In the back corner she could even make out a red headed Martian and a smirking Robin with Damian balanced on his hip. She smiled at him and waved.

Superman tore her attention from the boy, "We have almost reached a decision…" there was a slight pause, "We don't want to regret this." He gave her a pointed look.

'Maybe not jail…' Artemis thought somewhat hopefully looking at Damian again.

"Have you left the criminal business behind?" Martian Manhunter asked her in a monotone voice. She could feel his mind reach for hers and resisted the urge to fight it. Instead she let him into her head and answered honestly.

"Yes." She said verbally.

The Martian man nodded his head, "I sense she is not lying." No one spoke as he asked her another question, "Can we trust that we will not betray us." She felt him in her head again.

"I was trained to never break under pressure." She held in the small smile that teased her lips when the Martian withdrew a little from the flash of memory the words brought, "Yes." She breathed. He nodded and withdrew from her mind.

No one moved or spoke for what seemed like ages to Artemis.

"Alright," It was Wonder Woman who spoke now, "She speaks the truth. We must decide now!" Artemis could hear the irritation in her tone. She was done beating around the bush. "Those who agree that Artemis should join the team and be pardoned from her criminal acts, say I." There was a silence that seemed to scream.

Artemis hung her head. 'Goodbye Damian.' She couldn't look at him.

"I" Black Canary caught Artemis' eyes when she snapped her head up.

She watched as the Flash spoke, "I" he said. Then Hawkman, Captain Marvel, Green Arrow, and countless others spoke up. She could only pray that enough voted in her favor.

"All those who oppose" the Amazon called.

To her relief there were only a few who called out. She knew why they voted that way. If the roles were reversed, she would probably vote against herself.

Wonder Woman nodded then looked at Batman.

He stared at Artemis in a way that made her want to squirm, but she remained still and looked back at his covered eyes; the eyes she knew where the same grayish blue eyes she had looked at every day for over two years.

"Artemis," his gravelly voice boomed, "You are pardoned of you crimes. You are now part of the covert team made up of young heroes." She could feel his eyes burn a whole into her soul, "Don't make us sorry."

Her mouth was so dry her tongue felt like sandpaper. She watched his black cape as he strode to the zeta-beams. With his departure she let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. The people began to move around her.

"Congratulations," She turned as Canary placed hand on Artemis' shoulder, "Training will start at noon. Don't be late." She gave Artemis one last smile and a wink before walking away.

After Batman made his dramatic exit most of the other heroes took their leave too. Only a few had bothered to speak to Artemis as they made their way out. Some congratulated her, Flash asked her a personal question, and a few had threatened her.

Threats were nothing new to her though.

When Damian saw her, his face lit up. He wiggled himself off of Robin's hip and ran to her. She bent down to greet him. "Momma, did you hear" You're a hero now!" He wrapped his arms around her neck and squeezed her tight as she stood.

She couldn't help but smile as she held him. What would Talia say if she saw them now? Would she be proud? Artemis hoped so…

"Come on Ma, you got 'a see the training room!" He slipped to the ground and grabbed her hand, leading her back over to Robin and Miss Martian.

"Congratulations!" Miss Martian clapped her hands in excitement. Then she threw her arms around Artemis in a suffocating hug. "I always love getting new team mates!"

Artemis stood stiff as a board, "Uh, yeah. Happy to be here…" she stammered. She shot Robin a glare when he stifled a laugh.

He sighed, "Come on M. you can't keep her all to yourself."

The green girl pulled away with laugh, "Everyone's waiting in the training room." She floated down a hall.

Artemis couldn't but wondered if she was the only one who thought it strange to see a girl float down a hall.

As if he read her mind Robin laughed, "Don't worry, you get used to it." Damian grabbed his hand they started down the hall together.

After a few steps Robin picked Damian up and swung him over his shoulder, sending the boy into a fit of giggles. In that moment Artemis felt a strange pang in her heart. She told herself it was because she loved seeing Damian like that, happy and around people she could tell he was already starting to love. That was a lie though; it might have been the other raven haired boy that caused that pang in her heart. But Artemis wouldn't even admit that to herself.

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**As you can see I kinda officially made this traught... But I wont bash on Wally! I love the guy, I do, just not with Artemis. Anyhow please review and tell me what you thought! Thanks for being so patient with me.**

**Oh and my other story: I will write another chapter for it! Yay!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys! Sorry for the wait. Thank you all so much for the reviews! I love me some fellow traught fans... and spitfire fans are cool too. lol! **

**Just to clear something up**

**Artyfan- Robin is anout 16, in my mind Tim is training to be Robin right now and when they tell everyone that, then he will become Nightwing...maybe him and Artemis will talk about that at one point...**

**Also, while this is traught, most is about Artemis and Damian.**

**(Damian is watched by Black Canary or Captain Marvel when Artemis goes on a mission)**

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They watched her closely for the first month, kept her away from missions and constantly with a member of the team. After a while, they decided she was ready for her first mission with the team. It went over easy and smooth. No real problems, though they did learn that Kid Flash and Artemis didn't work very well together… By the end Aqualad had officially declared her part of the team, even though not all of them trusted her quite yet.

Mount Justice

7:00 am

Damian loved watching the team train. His favorite part was when his mamma sparred with any one of the other heroes. That morning she was sparring with Superboy or as Damian like to call him- just in his head- Uncle Conner; a boy could dream. He sat on a bench near them, watching, as Artemis touched her toes.

"'Ready for this Supes?" She asked playfully. Surprisingly over the month she had been there, she had grown closest to him out of everyone. Maybe people with suppressed anger got along better than others.

Conner folded his arms and grunted in her direction. She had won their last spar, and wasn't planning on letting him forget anytime soon.

Artemis smiled at her lap, "If you say so. But I have to warn you, I'm not going to take it easy on you this time." She stood up and got into a fighting stance; knees slightly bent, her arm raised and hands in loose fists.

Damian cupped his little hands around his mouth, "GO MAMMA!" he shouted.

Artemis' beckoned Superboy with an outstretched hand, "Bring it pretty boy," she taunted.

In a matter of moment he was swinging his fists at Artemis, forcing her to take a step backwards. She ducked under his next swing and managed to make a quick hit between his ribs before she had to duck again to avoid another hit aimed at her face. She dodged all the punches he swung her way, not trying to hit him back. She kept her mind on looking for an opening. Finally she spotted one. He left his right side completely unprotected. Crouching down she kicked the back of his knee. Before she could retreat though, he grabbed her arm and took her down as well.

Much to her dismay, she hit the ground first, flat on her back. "Artemis Fail" The computer announced.

She rolled to her stomach and pushed herself onto her knees. "Maybe I should take it easy on you." Superboy chided, a smile twitching on the edge of his lips.

Artemis made the most unattractive face she could at him. "No need to brag." She said under her breath as he walked over towards Damian.

"Heard that," He said over his shoulder, Conner picked Damian up and started walking over towards Zatanna and Aqualad's duel.

"Traitor!" Artemis called out after them.

Conner waved her off with one hand while with the other he held Damian upside down by the ankles, "Don't listen to her, she's just jealous," he told the boy.

Artemis made an undignified noise, but Damian just laughed, "Love you ma!"

She heard Rocket laugh behind her, "Kids," she said.

"Kids," Artemis agreed as she pushed herself to her feet.

"Amistad," Rocket started and stopped suddenly, then tried again, "My son is always ditching me for Icon. Kid idolizes him, but I guess so do I."

"I didn't know you had a son, Rocket." Artemis said softly. A surprise was waiting around every corner here.

Rocket kept her eyes on Damian and Conner, "Yep." She paused, "Call me Raquel when we're out of uniform."

They locked eyes for a moment, "Alright."

That was when Robin chose to appear out of nowhere, "Good news, Batman has a mission for us, has to do with Bane or something…."

"Oh good," Artemis stated with just a hint of malice, "I've been waiting to see them again."

Rocket laughed, "I feel ya man. Come on; don't want to get on the Bat's bad side any more than you already are." She took off down the hall.

If only they knew.

Somewhere in Southern India

9:00 p.m.

That was not Bane or his men in any way shape or form. That was definitely Cheshire, a.k.a. Jade, who was technically Artemis' sister.

She started showing up around the time Artemis was nine-already well into her training- she was always filled with scorn for her younger sister. Artemis hadn't known then that they were sister; she had no idea why the new assassin looked at her and hissed in distaste. Turns out, in Jades contorted mind Artemis is the root of all of her problem. Makes sense.

Cheshire is directing about twenty goons in unloading a shipment of Kobra-Venom, all the while twisting her sais menacingly.

'Well Bane certainly looks different.' Wally's voice called sarcastically in her mind.

'Looks like Batman's informative was wrong,' Robin agreed offhandedly, 'Been a while since we saw Cheshire though.'

Not used to sharing her mind with others, Artemis accidently thought, 'You're not the only one.' 'If this is too much for you Artemis,' Aqualad began kindly, 'You can wait in the ship while we complete the mission.'

'No,' Artemis said almost too fast, 'I can handle this.' She could feel the determination her mind was giving off.

No one said- or thought anything.

Finally Aqualad consented, 'As you wish.' Everyone kept their opinions to themselves if they thought she should go back.

As usual the mission was supposed to be simple recon; but as usual it didn't stay that way. It was like Cheshire knew they would be there.

As if on cue she turned towards their place in the darkness. "I'm so glad you joined us," She purred; the men stopped working and began to brace themselves. When no one answered her she tossed a spare knife at Artemis, "You can't hide from me, come out and play." She called.

When she dodged the knife she was forced to step into the faint light given off by the moon.

Even though she was wearing a mask with a smile, Artemis could tell that Jade was not very happy to see her, "Well look what the cat drug in." she spat.

"I'm not too excited to see you either, Chesh." Artemis replied with ample sarcasm.

'We will destroy the shipment and confine the men,' Aqualad paused, 'if you can handle Cheshire…' Artemis was grateful that he was giving her this chance.

'I've got it.' She stated. As the team moved in Artemis shot a foal arrow at Cheshire's feet. Now that she was a hero she didn't kill.

"So it begins." Jade called as she summersaulted over the exploding arrow and swung the handle of her sai at Artemis' head. She easily avoided the blow and shot another arrow in retort. Cheshire flipped her knife and aimed it at Artemis' torso. Just in time Artemis used her bow and blocked it. Both sais stuck in her bow the two fought for control. Going in circles, slowly further away from the team and the rest of the fighting.

"If were allowed to kill you," Cheshire grunted applying more force, "This would already be over."

Artemis pushed even harder, "Whose stopping you," It was more of a statement than a question. When she shifted her hands the sais and her bow went flying out of reach. Jade tackled Artemis and the two went sprawling.

"That, my dear, is a secret. So tell me Arty, how's little Damian?" She said as she punched Artemis in the face.

With a grunt Artemis scrambled to her feet and kicked Cheshire in the stomach, making her double over. That was for mentioning Damian. When she went for a punch in the face though, Jade caught her hand right before contact was made and stood as well.

She twisted Artemis' arm behind her back, "So you haven't lost your touch," she whispered, "Ra's will be so pleased."

Artemis broke free of the hold with a new sense of purpose, "What does he have to do with this?" she growled oblivious to everything but Jade.

Jade however looked around them, seeing all her unconscious companions, "I think I've said enough, don't you. Catch you later." Then she threw down a smoke pellet and disappeared into the night. Leaving Artemis with nothing but new questions.

"Artemis, are you alright?" She could now hear Robin ask in all his panic after a moment. His hand was on her shoulder.

Artemis heaved a sigh, "Yeah," she stated, "But Cheshire got away." She stated, in the back of her mind she registered how cold her shoulder got when Robin let his hand fall.

Megan answered her, "Is all that matters is that you're okay," she paused a moment and spoke a little quitter, "I could hear the franticness of you mind."

Artemis picked up her bow and looked off at the distant moon, "Sorry," she said.

The sais where already gone.

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**Thanks for reading guys. Please review and tell me what you think.**

**And Merry Christmas to all of you!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Please forgive me for how long it took to update this. I am so sorry, but without further adieu, here is the next chapter of Our Life. **

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_This boy in front of her was not the Damian who had cried when a stray dog had killed the friendly ally cat that lived behind their building._

_This Damian was older, and he had no compassion in his eyes that were color of rain. He didn't bat an eye as he cut the heads off one person after another, not even young children. _

_Artemis tried to move, tried to tell him to stop, that he didn't need to do this. They had changed things so that he could be good, like Batman or Green Arrow. But she couldn't move or even open her mouth. _

_She had to sit and watch as an endless pile of bodies grew at his fee t, an ever growing pool of blood encircling her frozen form. Artemis could see the faces of every fallen victim: Mrs. Dapney, Brad, Conner, and even Robin's cowl covered eyes stared at her. All of their mouths moved in unison, "Why Artemis? Why did you let this happen? You could have saved him-us, but you failed." Over and over the mouths repeated the words, "Why Artemis? Why," and she didn't have an answer for them. _

Mt. Justice

3:30 a.m.

Artemis was fine with never sleeping again after that nightmare. Every time she closed her eyes is all she could see were rivers of blood in the reflection of Damian's eyes.

She ran her fingers through his dark locks in an attempt to reassure herself. Damian will never become a monster like that, she told herself. But the image seemed stuck. She felt restless, like she needed some air.

Carefully not to wake him Artemis slipped out of bed. Silently she made her way to the caves back entrance. Rule number 12 on the special list Robin gave her was 'No leaving the cave unattended or otherwise instructed, ' but she planned on being back inside before anyone else woke up, so why worry about it?

The early morning air was chilly, but not unbearable. The waves gently crashing on the shore did little to ease her busy mind though.

Damian was two and a half years old. Not even old enough to completely understand why she took him, she got him away in time. That dream was just a formation of her deepest fears, nothing more.

She wasn't very persuasive; not even for herself. She kept on seeing his unblinking eyes, thinking of all the faces she saw, feeling the blood around her.

Right then Artemis would have done just about anything for Talia to be with her. She remembered when she was younger and Talia would brush her hair and tell her everything would be alright, that's what she wanted now. But Talia wasn't here, for all Artemis knew she would never see her again.

When someone dropped down on the sand next to her, Artemis jumped. She hadn't heard anyone approach her.

Must be Robin.

He didn't say a word as he sat in the sand next to her and gazed out at the water. He crossed his arms over his knees and rested his head on them.

Artemis was bull-dozed by the urge to take off his sun glasses and look into the eyes she had never seen.

She settled for a question, "What's got your goat Boy Wonder?" She was careful to keep her eyes only on the rolling waves.

His head turned slightly in her direction, just enough for him to see her out of the corner of his eye. "I could ask you the same," he said.

She dug her toes into the cool sand. She wasn't going to force him to tell her something if he didn't want to.

"Artemis?" he asked after what felt like ages of silence.

Instead of responding she looked over at him, doing her best to keep all emotion from her face. Pushing thoughts of her nightmare as far away as she could.

Even though she couldn't see through his glasses, she knew his eyes were locked with hers. She didn't look away.

Robin took that as a good sign. "I need to ask you a question." He told her. The intensity of his voice made Artemis' stomach twist into tight knots.

"Damian isn't yours is he?" He said the words slowly. Like he already knew the answer to the question, but he wanted to hear it from her, "I mean, you're not his biological mother."

Artemis filled her lungs with air; preparing to rattle off some bullshit lie and tell him that he was her biological son, but is all that came from her lips was a whispered, "Yeah."

She looked down. Best case scenario- Robin would be able to help her protect him. Worst case scenario- Robin would tell Batman and they would take Damian away and put her in jail like they should have when they first found her.

Robin was both relived and confused by her answer. He didn't know what to think now.

"Then whose kid is he?" He asked. So he didn't know the whole story. The fact only eased the knot in her stomach a little.

Instead of answering, she picked up a handful of sand and watched as it ran through her fingers. 'Kinda like my life.' She thought bitterly.

Robin took her hand into his and laced their fingers together and gently and lowered them to the ground without letting go. With this action he reassured her that he wouldn't tell anyone, not yet.

Her eyes glued to their conjoined hands, "I couldn't let him become what they wanted him to," her voice broken, at the end, "I couldn't let him be what they made me."

Robin hand slid from hers and lightly rapped around her shoulders in a side hug. He spoke softly, "No one holds your past against you," he paused for a moment, "Except, maybe Batman."

Artemis laughed and pulled away, "Come on Rob. We have a mission halfway across the world tomorrow." The conversation was over for now. Later she was pretty sure that he would try and get a little more information out of her, but for now he would let it be.

Pushing herself to her feet and started towards the cave, Robin trailing right behind her. Later she would laugh a little about the fact that Batman had a kid with a woman with a past twice as deadly as her own.

Unknown Location

Unknown Time

Artemis' was chained to a wall and she was blindfolded; that was the first thing she realized when she woke up. The last thing she remembered was Sportsmaster and Cheshire looming over and Zatanna telling her just to hold on a little longer through the mind link. Then everything was black.

She heard a door open somewhere to her left, "I now your awake Artemis," Artemis hadn't heard that voice in just over two years.

A voice that just yesterday she would have done just about anything to hear; to reassure her that everything would be fine, but now it only made her more scared.

It was the voice of Talia al Ghul.

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**Hope you liked it! And if you would be so so kind, please review!**


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